5 Random Thoughts
1) I've been New Avengers-free for 4 months now! Nope, haven't even had a second thought about picking it back up again. Does it still suck? How did that Collective hoo-ha end? These are questions a younger, more foolish Chris would have paid 3 bucks to find the answers to!
2) I tremble at the pile of comics waiting for me tomorrow (3 weeks worth). Tremble, I tell you.
3) While I'm asking, did The Flash get any better?
4) Why yes, I will be getting Justice League of America. Of course, I realize that by doing that I'll be condemning myself to prefacing every single review of that comic with "Listen, I liked Identity Crisis, OK? Deal with it."
5) Thanks to all who commented in my Y/Fables dilemma. And the winner, by a slight margin is Fables. I feel good about it because A) I can read Y for free thanks to Jake, and B) I confess to not liking Ex Machina, which weighed heavier than you'd think in the final analysis. Fables seems more up my alley. Thanks, all!
9 Comments:
Did The Flash get better? Well, judging by issue #2, no.
Didn't, and won't, pick up #3.
Understand, I've only been reading, not buying, Not Avengers.
"The Collective" came to a confused and embarrassing mess of a climax, as the whole thing turned out to be an incomplete retcon of one of Grant Morrison's New X Men plots. Why this was happening in NA is a mystery.
Since then, Bendis has been running a bunch of single-issue solo Avengers stories, tying in loosely with Civil Bore, and they've been working quite well. The single-issue format seems to have forced Bendis to apply some self-discipline, and while the plots are still sketchy, at least they're done in one issue rather than five or six.
This week's was a Spider-Woman story, and it was probably the lightest of the bunch so far, if only because Bendis indulges in his fascination with wordless double page spreads, even though a one-shot doesn't have room for them. The issue before (#22) was a Luke Cage/Jessica Jones solo story, and it was actually really good.
I would treat this as a brief blip though, and continue to avoid the book. It looks like we're going to be revisiting Wanda and Disassembled in November, and that's going to be a train wreck.
As one Avengers fan to another, I'd say get Marvel Adventures Avengers.
Flash #3 has a guest artist. Yes, already. No, I didn't read it.
Good call on Fables. I like them both, but I like Fables a little better.
Why don't you see how wrong you are about Identity Crisis? WHY?????
Greg: In the words of Ron Burgundy, "Agree to disagree."
Identity Crisis was 6 really good issues followed by one really lousy one.
Unfortunately, the lousy one cuts the legs out from under the first six and the story; but that doesn't mean (in my opinion) that 6/7 of the series suddenly sucked.
Listen, I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the smartest man alive (I have 19 issues of New Avengers to prove that), but I don't believe Identity Crisis sucked as hard as people make it seem.
Unlike, say, New Avengers. :-)
Now can we please move on to arguing about something more topical, like whether House of M was any good? ;)
Here's what I wrote about the end of The Collective:
I’m still trying to get my head around what happened here, because it doesn’t just muddle the finale for this storyline, but a few years worth of Marvel stories. Basically, this issue serves as an epilogue to Morrison’s New X-Men, House of M, Son of M, and Excalibur (I’m sure there’re others I’m not remembering); and it’s odd considering the nature of those stories that it would be resolved in an Avengers book and not an X-Men book. Or perhaps it’s justified with Wolverine’s presence. This would be like the Hush storyline in Batman being resolved in a random issue of Wonder Woman. I really pity the person who chose this issue as their gateway Marvel book…looks like they’ll be heading back to the world of human contact and healthy relationships.
Readers get their inevitable Fight Orgasm that’s been building and it all plays out quickly and interestingly enough, just in time for Wolverine and Captain America to act like a complete dick to probably the biggest victim in the entire story. I certainly hope that when I wake up in another continent completely naked, told I was possessed by an evil energy something-something to wreak havoc and murder people, and finally discover that I’m a mutant with powers, that I’ll be given the same amount of trust and understanding the “bad guy” in this story received. For serious, Wolverine, who had been brainwashed and turned into a murdering lunatic more times than I’ve had sex, treats this guy like he invented the plot device. I was really hoping Spider-Man – he’s Peter Parker by the way! I didn’t see that coming! – or someone would call him on it too…but no.
Like most New Avengers books, this issue wasn’t terrible, nor was it great either. Bendis’ writing had me turning the pages even when Deodato’s pencils were asking me not to. When it was over, I closed the book and stared at the window for a little longer than I should’ve.
And no, Flash doesn't get any better. Sadly.
-Puff Chrissy
Flash was marginally better with #3...but I place that on the art rather than the writing which was wretched. I mean really, when there's more pages devoted to a new "hero" than your main character, then there's something wrong.
NA has actually been fairly pleasant since the Civil War stuff started. I don't recommend it for buying, but I'd definitely try to atleast read the Luke Cage/Jessica jones issue which was very good.
I think NA is the only recorded example of a flagship title improving as a result of joining a crossover.
I still can't get over how badly DC botched the rollout of the new Flash series. From top to bottom, this thing's a bonafide "lemon"....and I wonder if DC has the guts to scrap the whole thing and go back to the drawing board.
I read the first issue, and it was appalling. Looks like my initial negative reaction to Didio recruiting writers from the long-defunct Flash TV show was right on the money. The art by Ken Lashley certainly doesn't help matters.
DC's got major egg on its face over this one. Hopefully they'll take steps to correct Didio's misplaced enthusiasm for TV writers.
Fables was a good choice. Far more intriguing to me than The Last Man. But maybe because I'm a chick?
When, oh when, will people stop treating Bendis like a literary genius? He's a derivitive hack, who occasionally comes up with a clever piece of dialogue. Occasionally.
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